Boating · Alappuzha
Backwater Canoe Ride Through the Paddy Villages
A country canoe down the narrow canals, where the houseboats are too wide to go.
4.81
What you'll do
- 1
Set off from Punnamada
We start on the open water at Punnamada, where the houseboat race is held, and turn off it within twenty minutes.
- 2
Into the narrow canals
The canals are barely wide enough for the canoe. This is the part the houseboats cannot reach, and it is where the village actually lives.
- 3
Paddy fields and coir workshops
We stop twice on the bank — once at a coir workshop where the fibre is spun by hand, and once at the paddy fields.
- 4
Lunch, then back
Lunch at a toddy shop on the bank, then the return leg with the current behind us.
4.81 · 186 reviews
Nithya Krishnan
Kozhikode
5.0
We did a houseboat the day before and saw nothing but other houseboats. The canoe went into canals you could touch both banks of, and we watched someone making coir rope in their front yard.
Marc Lefevre
Brussels
5.0
Four guests maximum, which makes all the difference. Vijayan poled for four hours in the heat and still had the energy to explain how the paddy sluices work.
Sneha Bose
Kolkata
4.0
Lovely and unhurried. The lunch was excellent but very spicy — ask ahead if that is a problem.
Where we'll meet
Punnamada boat jetty
Punnamada, Alappuzha, Kerala 688006
The small jetty north of the finish-line tower, not the main houseboat terminal.
Meet your host
Vijayan Thomas
Canoe poler and village boatman
Hosting since 201792% response rateSpeaks English, Malayalam, Hindi
Vijayan has poled these canals since he was fourteen and knows which of them are open in which month — several close when the paddy is flooded. He takes four guests at a time in a wooden canoe his brother built.
Things to know
- Guests aged 4 and over
- Able to step down into a low canoe
Seated for most of four hours with two short walks on the bank. No paddling is expected of guests.
- Sun hat
- Sunscreen
- A dry bag for your phone — the canoe sits low
- Canoe and poler
- Life jackets
- Lunch
- Tender coconut
- Not wheelchair accessible
- Guests with limited mobility should contact us first — boarding is down a step
Free cancellation up to 24 hours before the start. If the canals close for flooding we cancel and refund in full.
₹2,100/ per guest
October 2026
Start time
You won't be charged yet
Free cancellation up to 24 hours before
Date to be chosen · 09:00
Up to 4 guests
